CHARITY FOOTBALL MATCH

On Sunday 21st September, I played in The Football Association’s annual Labour vs Lobby football match at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester. The match was also an opportunity for me to show my support for Breast Cancer Care – the only UK-wide specialist support charity and The FA’s official charity partner for 2014-16.

Despite my footballing skills, the Labour MPs lost on this occasion with the Lobby team scoring right at the end to make it 3-1 as the MPs pushed forward looking for an equaliser. Our comprehensive 3-0 victory a couple of years ago seems a distant memory now, and both Ed Balls and Andy Burnham failed to reproduce their form from that day!

I then had the opportunity to find out more about The FA and Breast Cancer Care’s new campaign ‘Pass it on’, which aims to reach thousands more people across the country with the charity’s vital breast awareness message, while raising £500,000 to support women facing breast cancer.

Through their new partnership, The FA and Breast Cancer Care will be working together to ensure everyone across the nation knows the signs and symptoms of breast cancer. Friends, family members and partners can play a crucial role in passing on the breast awareness message to their loved one. We all have friends, sisters, mums and dads (men can get breast cancer too) who we need to reach with this life-saving information.”